A state appeals court has reversed a Garfield woman's convictions for violating city ordinances in 2009 and 2010.File photo

GARFIELD — An appeals court has reversed an earlier ruling that a Garfield woman violated city ordinances when she refused to allow building inspectors inside her home.

Ellen Heine was found guilty of violating city ordinances that obligate homeowners to allow city inspectors onto their property. The city cited multiple occasions in 2009 and 2010 in which Heine declined to do so.

According an article by The Record published earlier this year, she was found guilty in two separate trials, and ordered to pay fines of $750 and $1,500. She sought relief from the Superior Court of New Jersey's Law Division, but the convictions were reaffirmed. Heine then brought her case to the state Appellate Division.

In February, a three-member panel overturned one of the convictions, citing Heine's constitutional right to deny officials entry to her home without a search warrant.

"We noted that, even if she initially consented and then withdrew that consent, the inspector's remedy was to obtain a search warrant rather than to charge her with violating the ordinance, the court ruled. "We reach the same conclusion here, for the reasons cited in our earlier opinion."